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A Global News exclusive has revealed new information about WE Charity and the WE Charity Foundation, prompting further questions about the organization and the now-cancelled contract with the Candadian federal government to oversee a massive student grant program. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ investigative reporter Stewart Bell and Financial Post reporter Vanmala Subramaniam to talk about the latest revelations surrounding the charitable group and its real estate holdings. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent months, public experts are in agreement that wearing a mask in public is one of the only ways we can help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the absence of a treatment or a vaccine. Still, there are tons of people who refuse to wear one, saying it’s uncomfortable or a violation of their constitutional rights. Today, we’re talking to a behavioural psychologist about why we should all be wearing masks right now, and how we can convince those who won’t to change their minds. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kids haven't physically gone to school for months now because of the pandemic. This means that parents who are working from home have been juggling a million different things. But women have been disproportionately impacted by school closures and by the economic crisis. Today, we’re talking to Lauren Dobson-Hughes, a consultant specializing in gender and equality, about plans to reopen schools and what’s at stake for the future of women. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It might seem unhinged and farfetched to the average person, but the QAnon movement seems to be gaining traction. Since the start of the pandemic lockdowns, researchers are noticing a huge spike in QAnon content on social media—and a growing presence in real life. Today, we’re joined by journalist Justin Ling to talk about the movement and whether it’s taking root in Canada. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Twitter accounts of some of the world’s most powerful people were hacked on Wednesday in a brazen attack. Hackers took over accounts belonging to Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and many others, to promote a bitcoin scam. How did this happen and what should we make of it? We’ve got Motherboard’s senior editor Jordan Pearson to help us make sense of it all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Canadian government has been spending huge amounts on financial assistance programs for people and businesses affected by the pandemic. A major one has been the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which is $500 a week to help those who have lost their jobs or work hours. The program has been praised for its effectiveness, and it’s also reignited the debate around universal basic income (UBI). Today, we’re joined by Sheila Block, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to talk about whether we could see UBI in our future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Ontario is moving into Stage 3 of reopening, which means that more places like indoor bars and gyms are opening. Even though Ontario has been flattening the curve to some extent, a lot of people are concerned that we’re moving too fast and that there could be a surge in cases. Today, we’re joined by the Globe and Mail’s health reporter Carly Weeks to talk about what Stage 3 means, why there’s a plan for reopening bars but not for schools, and whether we’re ready. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

COVID-19 patients are typically split into three categories: those who are infected, those who have recovered, and those who have died. But over the last few months, we’ve been hearing more and more about the thousands of people who don’t fit neatly into these groups: the ‘long-haulers’. Even though they should have recovered, or have tested negative for the virus, they are nonetheless grappling with debilitating symptoms. Today, we’re joined by two ‘long-haulers’ and a family physician to talk about this phenomenon and what it says about the nature of the virus. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Justin Trudeau is facing his third investigation by Canada’s ethics watchdog after outcry over a $900 million federal contract awarded to WE Charity. The controversy over the now-cancelled WE Charity government contract ramped up this week after it was revealed that Trudeau’s family members were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak at WE Charity events. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ chief political correspondent David Akin to break down the debacle and what it says about Trudeau and the Liberals.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, renowned Filipino journalist Maria Ressa was convicted of cyber libel and faces six years in prison. Ressa and press freedom advocates say her case represents an effort to silence her and other journalists who’ve been critical of Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines. It also points to the ways Facebook has been used to undermine democratic institutions. Today, we’re joined by Fatima Syed, a reporter at The Logic, to talk about the significance of the case and how it has ripple effects beyond the Philippines.

There are a ton of viral videos showing wild animals roaming around big cities, with captions that say “nature is healing.” We’re driving less, flying less, and getting on our bikes and walking more. So, it may feel like the silver lining to this pandemic is that we’re saving the planet… But are we? Today, we’re joined by Global News’ Jeff Semple to talk about whether the lockdown measures mean we’re making progress in the fight against climate change.

While the vast majority of the anti-police brutality protests in recent weeks in the U.S. have been peaceful, a lot of attention has been focused on a small number of people who have resorted to looting and property damage. Though some have pointed to the violence as a reason to dismiss the protests altogether, others argue that the violence is understandable and is the product of genuine rage at the system. Today, we’re joined by Omar Wasow, a professor in politics at Princeton University to talk about his research into the efficacy of non-violent and violent protests.

In the last couple of weeks, journalists of colour are speaking out more than ever about their experiences with racism in the workplace. And they’re also publicly pushing back against content published by their own employers that they see as problematic. The New York Times described what’s happening as a revolt erupting in America’s biggest newsrooms, and it’s happening in Canada too. Today, we’re joined by Global News producer Alley Wilson and VICE Canada senior writer Manisha Krishnan. 

A 15-year-old girl named Jyoti Kumari became an overnight celebrity in India last month after she cycled more than 700 miles carrying her injured father on the back of her bike back home. Their harrowing journey from the city back to their rural village is shared by millions of others as the Indian government’s COVID-19 lockdowns have left mass numbers of migrant workers unemployed, and with no choice but to go home. Today, we’re joined by Maria Abi-Habib, a South Asia correspondent at the New York Times, to talk about how this happened and why experts are predicting that this mass influx of migrants back to their villages could create a new wave of extreme poverty.

This weekend was the second time in recent months that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling tweeted comments that have been criticized for being transphobic. Though her stance might seem surprising coming from a beloved children’s author who writes about inclusivity, it starts to make more sense when you look at the state of mainstream feminism in the U.K., where Rowling is from. Today, we’re joined by Vox politics reporter Katelyn Burns to talk about the accusations of transphobia that have been swirling around Rowling for awhile, and what it means when people accuse her of being a TERF.

Any time there’s a big story about racism in the U.S., there’s a tendency for us in Canada to talk about our problems as distinct from the American ones; as if we’re much more evolved and things aren’t as bad here when it comes to racism. Today, we’re talking about Canada’s deep roots of anti-Black racism, and why that history is often overlooked. 

A lot of people have been speaking out against anti-Black racism over the last couple weeks—many for the first time. While there have been a lot of well-intentioned posts on social media and other efforts, some have been criticized for being hypocritical or unproductive. Today, we’re talking with Anthony James Williams, a writer and sociologist, about meaningful anti-racism work, and how to be an ally.

Activists fighting against anti-black racism in Canada and the U.S. have been pushing governments to defund the police for years. And until now, that idea has mostly been dismissed as a leftist fantasy. But in the wake of the anti-police brutality protests, that seems to be changing. Today, we’re joined by Sandy Hudson, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, and Alex Vitale, a professor and author of ‘The End of Policing,’ to talk about this idea and whether it’s a possibility.

Last week, Twitter took the significant step of adding fact-checking labels to two of Trump’s tweets related to mail-in ballots. Then, it added a warning label to another for breaking its rules around “glorifying violence.” Today, we’re talking with writer Noam Cohen about why Twitter is cracking down on Trump and what it means for Facebook at this critical moment in history.

Last weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Toronto to protest police brutality in solidarity with the protests happening across the US, in response to the killing of George Floyd. But the protesters in Toronto were also chanting a name you won’t hear at the American protests: Regis Korchinski-Paquet.  Today, we’re talking about the death of the 29-year-old and racism in Canadian policing with Global News reporter Kamil Karamali and activist and author Robyn Maynard. 

A lot of us were glued to our screens all weekend, watching as thousands of people took to the streets across the U.S. to protest anti-black racism and police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. And while most of the protests were peaceful, in some cities they devolved into chaos. Today, we’re joined by Eugene Scott, an identity politics reporter for The Washington Post to talk about the protests, the response from police, and what it could all mean for the 2020 election.

The COVID_19 pandemic has a lot of people predicting the end of cities. As places like New York City have become hot spots for the coronavirus, density is being blamed for the spread of the disease. But there are many other dense cities around the world that have been able to get their outbreaks under control quickly. Today, we’re joined by Jennifer Keesmaat, former chief planner of the City of Toronto and the CEO of The Keesmaat Group, to talk about the future of cities post-pandemic, and why “good density” is the best way forward.

This week, new reports by the Canadian military have revealed disturbing details about what’s going on inside long-term care homes in Ontario and Quebec that are grappling with COVID-19 outbreaks. For years, many people have tried to sound the alarm about the ongoing neglect and abuse inside these homes. Will these new reports finally lead to changes to the system? We’re joined by Global News’ Ottawa Bureau Chief Mercedes Stephenson to talk about the reports and what the response has been.

Over the last week, it seemed like Ontaro’s COVID-19 outbreak was getting out of control. Every day for five days, the province was reporting more than 400 new cases. Then yesterday, the case count started to drop dramatically. But experts say that Ontario is still unprepared to continue reopening and that the outbreak is far from controlled. And there are a lot of reasons behind that. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ Supriya Dwivedi to talk about the mixed, and often contradictory, messaging coming from various levels of government and how that might be making things worse. 

Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest a controversial new national security law being pursued by the Chinese government. The pro-democracy protesters fear the law could spell the end of Hong Kong society as we know it. Today, we’re talking with UBC professor Leo Shin about the new law, why China might be doing this in the middle of the pandemic, and what’s at stake for the international community if it passes. 

Businesses around the world have had to quickly figure out how to let their employees work from home during the pandemic. Now, some companies have announced that their employees can work from home forever. But, a lot of companies aren’t saying goodbye to traditional office spaces just yet, and are starting to figure out how to bring employees back safely. But how do you redesign modern office spaces for the age of COVID-19? Today, we’re tackling this with Financial Post reporter Vanmala Subramaniam.

For the past little while, Alison Roman has been the darling of the food media world, and that’s been especially the case since the start of the pandemic. Many millennials have turned to her recipes like “The Stew” and “The Pasta.” But Roman recently found herself on the receiving end of an internet backlash regarding comments she made about Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo. Today, we’re joined by journalist Navneet Alang to talk about his new Eater piece about this and the deeper issues about the food media world and representation.

This week, Donald Trump revealed that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent himself from contracting COVID-19 — despite the lack of evidence to support that it can treat or prevent it. In fact, public health experts have warned that the drug can cause potentially harmful side effects. Today, we’re joined by medicinal chemist Derek Lowe to talk about the hype around hydroxychloroquine and whether it’s actually showing any promise in the fight against COVID-19.

This week, Global News revealed that a deadly attack at a Toronto massage parlour in February is now being treated as an alleged act of terrorism linked to misogynist incel ideology. Experts say it’s the first time terrorism charges have been laid over a violent crime tied to incels, a term that refers to self-described “involuntary celebates.” Today, Global News reporter Stewart Bell explains the significance of treating this as terrorism and how the incel movement has evolved in recent years. 

This week, provinces across Canada are continuing to reopen their economies—slowly. However, experts have warned against re-opening too soon without the proper testing and contact tracing regimes. Today, we’re joined by Steven Hoffman, the director of the Global Strategy Lab and a professor of global health at York University, to talk about countries around the world that have reopened, how they’re responding to spikes in new COVID-19 cases, and what Canada can learn from them. 

Description:  Julie LaLonde is one of Canada’s best-known women’s rights advocates and experts on sexual violence. But until 2015, she carried a really big secret: that she had been stalked by an ex-boyfriend for a decade. Today, we’re talking with Julie about her memoir, Resilience is Futile: The life and death and life of Julie LaLonde, and why stalking has been mostly left out of the conversations about violence against women.

Universities and colleges around the world are going virtual because of the pandemic. This week, a number of postsecondary institutions in Canada announced that they would be primarily offering online classes next semester, a big change for a lot of students who were looking forward to the typical campus experience. Today, we’re talking to a university student, a professor, and a learning expert about their experiences with online learning and what these drastic changes are already revealing about our education system. 

Over the last few weeks, it’s become clear that our food supply chains aren’t invincible. We’ve seen major COVID-19 outbreaks at meat processing facilities across the country; fruit and vegetable farms are struggling with labour shortages. But there’s also an over-supply problem that’s hitting farmers really hard. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ chief political correspondent David Akin about how the pandemic has our food supply chains, and if we need to be concerned about food security. 

The travel industry has been decimated since the start of the pandemic due to lockdowns and border closures. The UN World Tourism Organization estimates that international tourism could decline by up to 80 per cent this year compared to 2019. But the industry is already preparing for when we can start to travel again, and there will be a lot of changes to everything from air travel to hotels. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ Washington bureau chief Jackson Proskow to talk about what lies ahead for the tourism industry and why our vacations might never go back to normal.

Now that provinces across Canada are talking about re-opening their economies, we’re checking in on how small businesses have been doing since the lockdowns began in March. From losing revenues and customers, many have been struggling to stay afloat. Today, we’re joined by Vanmala Subramaniam, a reporter at the Financial Post. She’s been tracking three companies across Canada, and has a lot of insight into where things might be headed.

By now you’ve probably heard of a ‘Karen.’ She’s the entitled white woman who would call the cops on black kids selling lemonade without a permit, or yell at a waiter over a minor inconvenience. The Karen meme has been around for awhile, but it’s really evolved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there’s been some controversy over it, the meme perfectly captures the tensions of this moment and it’s become a sharp critique of a specific kind of villain that we’ve seen emerge from our new reality. Today, we’re talking about all of this with Kaitlyn Tiffany, a staff writer at The Atlantic who recently published a deep dive on Karens.

When governments started telling people to stay at home in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, advocates for women warned about the dangers for people who would be stuck inside with their abusive partners. Now, there’s mounting data that suggests they were right. This week, the head of the World Health Organization’s European office said that calls to domestic hotlines have spiked by five times since the start of the outbreak and that if lockdowns continue for six months, there could be an extra 31-million cases of gender-based violence around the world. Today, we’re speaking with freelance journalist Sarah Boesveld about why domestic violence is on the rise.

We’ve suffered through months of winter, and we’ve now spent two months at home under isolation. And our efforts are paying off. We’re starting to flatten the curve. At the same time, the weather is getting nicer and most of us want to spend more time outside. The good news is that health officials are encouraging us to do just that. But can COVID-19 spread outdoors? And what are the rules about being outside during this pandemic? Today, we tackle these questions with VICE reporter Manisha Krishnan.

This week, Alberta launched the first contact tracing app for COVID-19 in Canada. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford called for a national strategy on contact tracing. The process of contact tracing is crucial to safely reopening our societies and economies. So today, we’re joined by epidemiologist Cynthia Carr to explain what contact tracing is, what makes it so difficult during a pandemic, and how we can get it right.

On Friday, about two weeks after the Nova Scotia mass shooting, Justin Trudeau announced a ban on military grade ‘assault-style’ weapons. The ban is facing criticism from both sides of the gun control debate. Gun rights groups and some conservative leaders say it targets responsible gun owners, while others say the ban doesn’t go far enough and that it should also cover handguns. Today, we’re joined by Jooyoung Lee, a sociologist at the University of Toronto and expert on preventing gun violence, to talk about the ban and what it doesn’t address. 

The pandemic is seriously impacting the film industry: productions are halted, theatres are closed, and film festivals are being postponed or cancelled. This week, the Academy Awards announced it was changing its eligibility rules to allow films released only on streaming services to qualify for the Oscars in 2021, a big change from its previous rules that required films to have a theatrical release. Today, we’re joined by Barry Hertz, the Globe and Mail’s film editor, to talk about all these changes and what they mean for the future of Hollywood.

Since the start of the pandemic, governments around the world have been scrambling to secure medical face masks and other personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. China now produces the vast majority of the world’s medical masks, and if they’re not sending them to you, you’re probably not getting any at all. But in the early days of its own outbreak, China was desperate for PPE. And according to a new Global News investigation, it used some pretty questionable methods to get their hands on as much as possible. Today, investigative reporter Sam Cooper takes us inside China’s efforts to corner the global PPE supply.